


She always was crazy about that man

by zillah975



Category: The Losers
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-16
Updated: 2010-05-16
Packaged: 2017-10-09 12:18:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/87241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zillah975/pseuds/zillah975
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You think she's seriously gonna try to kill him?" Jensen asks. "I don't know, she seems really into him."</p><p>"That's what worries me," Pooch answers. "When was the last time a woman who was really into Clay didn't try to kill him?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	She always was crazy about that man

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [the inaugural commentfic party](http://the-losers-2010.dreamwidth.org/347.html) at [](http://the-losers-2010.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**the_losers_2010**](http://the-losers-2010.dreamwidth.org/), in answer to the prompt "Aisha/Clay, moth to a flame".

The night is cool, and wet with mist. Pooch feels it when he holds his hand back, feels it on the back of his neck, but the campfire makes a circle of warmth in front of him. The five of them are sprawled around it like so many times before, except with Aisha now instead of Roque, her slim, sharp edges cutting the air where his solid weight used to keep Clay anchored. Makes everything different.

Clay acts like it's fine, like he's fine, but it's bullshit. Things are so far from 'fine'.

"Man, when are you gonna learn?" Pooch shakes his head, watching Clay watch Aisha. She's kicked back on the other side of the fire, laughing with Jensen about something -- or at Jensen, Pooch can't really tell from here. Jensen's laughing too, but that doesn't mean much. Cougar acts like he's ignoring them all, just sharpening that big damned knife, but he's got his eyes on Jensen and Aisha and he's thinking about something, the gears turning, he's working something out. Pooch sure wishes he knew what.

The trap is baited and set, and tomorrow Max is going to walk right into it, it's gonna snap shut on him and they'll finally be done with all this mess. They'll have their lives back, everything. All of them except Aisha, because apparently what Aisha wants is her dad. So they won't really be done yet; there'll still be Clay and Aisha to sort out.

Pooch shakes his head again. "How'd you get this thing for women that want to kill you? Your mama give you too much tough love?"

Clay lets out a breath and looks away, but not for long. Pretty soon he's watching her again, like he can't keep his eyes off her. The firelight flickers over her skin and makes her into shadows, but Pooch knows, all Clay can see is the light.

"She's not going to kill me," Clay answers, and Pooch snorts.

"Y'damn right she's not, but she's sure going to try."

"No, she isn't." Clay's got that tone now, the one Jensen calls his Dad voice. "We talked."

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

Clay cuts a glance at him and if looks could kill, Pooch would have a bloody lip right now at the very least. Maybe a broken jaw, it's hard to tell with Clay sometimes. "It's fine," Clay says. "She understands."

"Sure she does." Pooch nods. "But man, you are mistaken if you think she cares. This is not a woman who gives a damn if you had to kill her daddy, only that you did."

Aisha looks over at them and smiles at Clay, and the way Clay smiles back it's like he doesn't even feel the noose starting to tighten. For a second Pooch thinks maybe they ought to just blow the whole thing, spring the trap too soon and go on chasing Max for another six months. But it's not like six months is going to make Aisha any happier that Clay killed her only father.

"She is a hell of a woman," Clay says. Firelight flickers over her skin.

Pooch nods. "That she is. You still oughta be staying the hell away from her."

"She's the key to the whole plan, Pooch," Clay counters. "Not like I can just ignore her."

"I swear, Clay, you got a death wish or something?"

Clay looks at him like he's grown a second head. "All the times I've miraculously managed to avoid dying, and you think I want to? What, you figure I'm just not competant to get myself killed?"

"I think if you keep fucking little miss 'did you kill my father' you're definitely going to wind up in a box."

"Already did," Clay answers, and grins. "She's the one let me out."

"That woman's going to be the death of you," Pooch says, jabbing his finger at Clay.

Clay looks at Aisha on the other side of the fire. The light licks over her like it knows her, cutting her into shadows. She brushes her hand over Jensen's and gets to her feet. "Better her than some stranger. Anyway, she isn't going to."

"Better no one at all," Pooch says, but Clay's already up, following Aisha. Pooch watches them all the way to the big rig that's serving as home for tonight, and then Jensen and Cougar shift around to his side of the fire.

"You think she's seriously gonna try to kill him?" Jensen asks. "I don't know, she seems really into him."

"That's what worries me," Pooch answers. "When was the last time a woman who was really into Clay didn't try to kill him?"

"That man's got a death wish," Jensen says.

"How are we supposed to keep him safe when he's taking the woman to bed with him?"

"We're not," Cougar answers, and Pooch and Jensen look at him. "He's a grown man, he makes his own decisions."

They're all quiet for a long time, the only sounds the crackle of the fire and the soft rasp of Cougar's knife against the stone.

Finally Cougar shrugs. "Maybe she won't try. Maybe he's right."

Pooch shakes his head. "I don't know, man. She doesn't seem like a person who gives up on a goal."

"She likes him, though," Jensen says. He sounds plaintive. "She does!"

"Fire likes the moth, too," Cougar says. "That's why it burns him up."

***

Pooch has last watch, so he's up when the door of the rig squeaks open. Just Aisha, all long legs and shadows spilling around her, pushed back by the sun. Pooch holds up the coffee pot, and Aisha heads over.

"Thanks," she murmurs as Pooch pours.

"De nada." He hands her the cup, steaming in the cold morning, and she folds her hands around it and holds it under her chin. Pooch can hear Jensen and Cougar stirring in the back of the truck, the creak of the metal, and Jensen's laugh. They've got a couple hours yet before they have to go.

Aisha takes a sip of the coffee and makes a pleased little hum in the back of her throat. "Good," she says. "Strong. Thanks."

Pooch chuckles. "Jolene says my coffee can peel paint. I keep making it weaker and weaker and she keeps laughing at me and saying 'no, too strong, too strong.'"

"Daddy always made the coffee too strong," Aisha says, and Pooch feels the skin on the back of his neck tighten. Aisha doesn't look mad, though. Doesn't look like she's about to whip out a gun and start blasting.

They've still got to get Max, anyhow.

"Mom used to...she'd put two lumps of sugar in it," Aisha goes on, "and cream 'til it was the color of his skin, and even then she'd make this face when she drank it. I always used to ask him, 'why do you do that? Why do you make it so strong like that?'" She shakes her head. "He'd just smile at me and say, 'It's how your mother likes it. She drinks it, doesn't she?'"

"Where's your mom now?" Pooch asks.

Aisha looks away. "They killed her. About four months before you guys showed up and...and tried to save those kids."

Pooch lets out a breath. "Damn. I'm sorry, Aisha."

She shakes her head and takes another sip of the coffee. "She always was crazy about that man. Told her he was going to get her killed."

The door to the rig opens again and Clay steps out, blinking a little in the sun. Pooch holds up the coffee pot and Clay nods and starts towards them.

"Clay thinks Jolene's right about my coffee," Pooch says, and Aisha smiles.

"He drink it anyway?"

Pooch laughs. "Yeah."

"You don't need to worry," she says, and Pooch looks at her. "I know what I said. But really. You don't need to worry."

"Worry about what?" Clay asks, sitting down next to Aisha.

"The coffee," Aisha says.

Clay laughs. "Pooch's coffee can peel paint."

Aisha grins and leans against Clay for a moment, then nudges him and sits up again. "We'll teach him to make it right," she says. "Don't worry. It's all gonna be good."

And maybe it's too soon to tell, but Pooch really wants to believe her.

And maybe he kind of does.


End file.
